Three of Sussex’s most talented Sportshall athletes travelled to Manchester’s regional arena - Sportcity- over the weekend, to compete as individuals at the UK Sportshall Finals. Here the most promising young athletes were battling it out to be crowned UK champions.
The Under 13 event took place on Saturday and Alicia Borrill (CRA) and Adam Dray (HHH) were competing in the Vertical Jump and Speed Bounce respectively. They had both been invited to the UK final as the leading athletes from the regional championships. Borrill jumped 62cms, a fine result, which earned her the silver medal behind Surrey’s Michaela Pottinger's 66cms. Dray who had recorded a score of 90 at the regional final was slightly below par with 78, which put him joint 11th overall.
In March Amber Anning (B&H) had won the regional Under 15 girls' All rounder competition and on Sunday she was the sole Sussex representative in Manchester. Each of the 75 athletes had to take part in three events and points out of 100 were awarded, based on finishing position. Anning won the 4-lap sprint time trials, finishing two seconds ahead of the next fastest. She came second in the Vertical Jump with a leap of 67cms and was sixth in the Shot Put with 10.31m. As the only athlete to finish top six in all events Amber scored 287 out of a possible 300 points, 11 points more than her closest rival and an emphatic win.
Anning ends her six year Sportshall career with an unprecedented 10 county records across the age groups, two UK Under 13 titles and the last piece of icing on top of the cake - the UK U15 All Rounder title.
By Melanie Anning